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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ellison Picks Up The Cougars Once-Disgraced Point Guard Key As WSU Men Turns Back Oregon

It took longer than most expected, but Donminic Ellison finally made it all the way back Saturday afternoon.

Washington State’s junior point guard, who has struggled since serving a two-game academic suspension in early January, scored 16 points - including the most important three of the game, made six assists and turned the ball over only once in leading the Cougars to a 70-65 win over Oregon.

The victory gave WSU (11-8 overall and 4-7 in the Pacific-10 Conference) a Friel Court sweep of the Oregon schools and vaulted the Cougars into a sixth-place tie with the Ducks (11-11 and 4-7) in the Pac10 standings.

“We had to get a win, because a lot of teams are really shuffling around right now,” explained WSU scoring leader Isaac Fontaine, who finished with 19 points. “We needed this win for that reason and for team morale to get us back in the swing of things.”

The Cougars, who have won three of their last four in rekindling their post-season hopes, had several players step up at various times Saturday - much to the delight of Friel Court crowd of 4,937.

But none were as consistently on the mark as Ellison, who made every key basket he lined up, including a huge 3-pointer that put WSU ahead 67-63 with just over a minute left and answered Oregon’s final run.

“That was a big shot by Donminic,” Fontaine said. “We were only up by one and that pretty much put it away.”

The Cougars, who jumped to an 8-0 lead, never trailed, but they were forced to deal with a couple of late Duck surges that made things interesting.

Fueled by 22 points from reserve guard Jamal Lawrence and several fortunate bounces, Oregon scratched back from a 11-point deficit early in the second half and put itself in position to win at the end.

“We thought our effort in the second half was good enough to get it done,” said Duck coach Jerry Green. “We were a lot more aggressive offensively in the second half.”

Ellison, however, refused to let his team lose. And nothing he did toward that end meant as much as the way he took care of the basketball in the face of some tremendous defensive pressure from Oregon point guard Kenya Wilkins.

“He certainly played well, there’s not question about that,” said Coach Kevin Eastman, who made the decision to suspend Ellison for his classroom negligence. “He did a really good job of taking shots and not taking shots.

“A lot of Donminic’s play was what he did himself, and then I thought a lot of it centered around some really good passes back out from our post people.”

Ellison was 6 for 10 from the field, including 4 for 7 from 3-point range. He - like Fontaine and Shamon Antrum, who finished with 14 points - benefited greatly from Oregon’s decision to double-team senior forward Mark Hendrickson every time he touched the ball inside.

Hendrickson, who scored only six points, did a masterful job of reading the double-team and set up several easy perimeter shots for his teammates - including Ellison’s clincher.

“As I passed it in to Mark, I knew they’d be doubling,” Ellison recalled. “The trap came from out top, so I dropped to the corner where the defender wasn’t and hollered to Mark.

“It went down for me. Lord knows I needed that one.”

When asked if it was his best performance since his suspension, he said, “Concentration-wise, yes.”

“I’ve had a lot of things on my mind, but as far as putting together a full game, I’d say it’s my best game back,” he added.

WSU made 10 of 22 on 3s, but still shot only 42 percent from the field.

Still, Eastman said he saw enough positives to keep him happy heading into Tuesday night’s non-conference matchup against Idaho. The Cougars return to Pac-10 action at home next Saturday against Washington.

Washington St. 70, Oregon 65

Oregon (11-11) - Milling 4-6 3-5 11, Quinine 1-2 2-2 5, Ramaker 4-6 0-2 9, Brown 1-6 0-0 3, Wilkins 3-11 4-4 11, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Lawrence 7-14 2-2 22, Curry 1-6 0-2, 2, Carson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 11-17 65.

Washington St. (11-8) - Hendrickson 1-6 3-4 6, Daniel 2-5 3-5 7, Fontaine 5-10 6-6 19, Antrum 3-9 6-6 14, Ellison 6-10 0-0 16, Jackson 1-2 0-0 2, Scott 1-3 0-0 2, Mack 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 21-50 18-21 70.

Halftime-Washington St. 35, Oregon 27. 3-Point goals- Oregon 10-26 (Quinine 0-1, Ramaker 1-2, Brown 1-6, Wilkins 1-3, Lawrence 6-12, Curry 0-1), Washington St. 10-22 (Hendrickson 1-2, Fontaine 3-6, Antrum 2-5, Ellison 4-7, Jackson 0-1, Scott 0-1). Fouled out-Oregon, Curry. Rebounds-Oregon 32 (Ramaker 11), Washington St. 32 (Daniel 9). Assists-Oregon 16 (Wilkins 9), Washington St. 15 (Ellison 6). Total fouls-Oregon 22, Washington St. 17. Technicals-Oregon, Carson. A-4,937.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos (1 color)